WELCOME (BACK) TO MUIR PARK...

Despite it's often shabby surrounds, Muir Park in Higgins Rd, Hamilton, was grudgingly respected as Waikato football headquarters for over 30 years...

The place was certainly not revered as anything even vaguely resembling state-of-the-art complex, and was hopelessly inadequate in many respects in its later years. Indeed, ahead of hosting the Chatham Cup final in 1988, journalist Peter Watson remarked that "nothing short of a bomb could improve the southern end of the ground, which is dominated by those shabby industrial fuel tanks".

But it acquired its own unique corrugated charm simply through the catalogue of triumphs, achievements, disasters and controversies that occurred there, and the vast spectrum of memorable characters that inhabited the place from the mid-60s to the mid-90s.

Back in a programme column in 1996, I wrote that, in essence, the Muir Park years represented an “aesthetic world” in Waikato’s football history, rather than a “narrative” one.

Looking back on 30-odd years at Muir Park shortly after the venue had been sold, I concluded the most powerful memories related to viewing a succession of images, like a teenage music video on television, where it was not the plot you remembered but an open-ended flow of visual stimuli…

“Whether it was (Brian) Chisholm passing the ball to himself, (Darren) Melville having a stoush in front of the grandstand, (Darren) Fellowes scoring a hat trick playing with a wooden leg, or a brace of coaches being sent off in tandem, it is a visual collage we remember.

“The Muir Park years were not so much a continuous experience, but flash frames of highlights, golden moments which are extremely vivid, but next door to impossible to put in an accurate historical context without spending all week on it. One drama blurs into another crises, one greatest win quick-cuts into the memories of another legendary performance.

“The park created an aesthetic mood, an ambiance, that conveyed glimpses of soccer history. For the fans at least, it was a story with no beginning, middle, or end.”

I am sure there are still many out there who remember Muir Park and can relate to that.

So in the spirit of that outlook, I have created this website. It also is a discontinuous jumble - of photos memories, anecdotes and writings which may highlight those flash frames, golden moments, and aesthetic mood. :-)

Anyway, take a look around and decide for yourself.

Cordwainer Bull, August 2013.

NB. Most of the illustrations on this site, when clicked, will produce an enlarged photo.

Template photo above shows Steve Tate after scoring the Muir Park goal which effectively won Waikato United the Chatham Cup at Muir Park in 1988 - one of the high watermarks for the venue. (Inset: Waikato United Bulls logo and Hamilton AFC logo).

Also check out www.waikatofootballprogrammes.weebly.com

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BELOW: The Muir Park grandstand on matchday, 1991...

Introducing a new book about New Zealand's national league (including the Waikato United years)...

“The National League Debates: A potted chronology of the twists, turns and conflicting ideas in New Zealand football since 1990”

Buy a 276-page PDF copy for $12

Click the cover graphic to navigate to the website to order a copy.

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